Tag Archives: maypop passionvine

Back with a vengeance

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The butterflies are loving the warm Southwest Florida weather again. We had some cold spells this winter, and the daily butterfly visits came to a stop for the most part. 

I am delighted to say that the gulf fritillary butterfly has come back with a vengeance.

The caterpillar population has exploded these past few weeks. The upside to this, the maypop passionvine continues to pop up everywhere in and outside of the garden giving the caterpillars plenty to eat as they grow through their multiple instars. 

I decided to put some caterpillars in our butterfly house, a move made after cleaning up the garden and moving the plant out of harms way in the actual yard.

There are quite a few chrysalis in the butterfly house currently. 

Yesterday the first butterfly emerged.

Chomping away

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A walk through the garden was a treat this morning. There’s caterpillars on almost all the host plants, including these gulf fritillary caterpillars on a maypop passionvine.

Unique

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The maypop passionvine flower is among one of the most unique flowers in my garden, and the most invasive.

This plant has taken over the garden, inside and outside, of the space. To say I have an abundance is an understatement. The gulf fritillary butterfly has a ton of host plant to lay eggs on, and the caterpillars food to eat.

The penta

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The gulf fritillary is such an amazing butterfly to watch in action, especially as they do not scare easily when you get close. The best part is if you stay still they flutter right past you, almost touching you, as they gracefully land on the nectar of choice.

The caterpillars are of abundance on the ever growing maypop passionvine. The butterflies are busy laying eggs on the vine, and for some reason on the wire that the maypop vine threw, as well as a trellis.

Today they went from the red pentas, which are among the top two nectar plants this butterfly visits in my garden, to laying eggs.

The gulf fritillary’s life span is anywhere from 14 to 27 days.

Porterweed and maypop passionvine

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The blue porterweed and maypop passionvine are a must for the gulf fritillary butterflies. At least, in my garden they are favored by this beauty.

These two plants are growing in abundance in both my front and back butterfly garden, which sees a great deal of action from the gulf fritillary butterflies as soon as the 8 o’clock hour throughout the day until around 7 p.m.

This one photographed below laid eggs on the maypop passionvine and then visited the blue porterweed directly next to it to sip some nectar before the process began all over again.